From marathon shoes to cricket bats: Redefining limits through tech

Bengaluru: The marathon has always been a measure of human endurance pushed to its limits. From the first sub-three-hour run at the 1908 Olympic Games to the long, almost mythical pursuit of the two-hour barrier, progress has been incremental, painstaking and often unforgiving.

The sport also went through evolution, anchored by standardisation with the crucial one coming in 2003 when World Athletics (then IAAF) formalised modern rules to ensure uniformity in course measurement, pacing and equipment use.

That framework is also why legendary distance runner Eliud Kipchoge’s iconic sub-two-hour run (1:59:40) in Vienna in 2019 remained an exhibition feat as the Kenyan's extraordinary achievement fell outside official ratification due to controlled conditions like rotating pacemakers, formation running and other technical aids that violated competitive norms.

More than six years later, however, the barrier has finally fallen and well within the rulebook as another Kenyan Sebastian Sawe produced a legitimate sub-two-hour performance at the London Marathon by clocking 1:59:30. It was a landmark moment but one that also reignited debate about the growing influence of technology in sport. And this time, at the centre of that debate were the shoes.

Sawe’s ultra-lightweight racing footwear, developed by a leading German manufacturer, adidas, weighed under 100 grams and featured a stiff carbon-fibre plate embedded within a thick foam sole.

As per the makers, the design enhances propulsion and energy return, effectively improving running economy over long distances. While question was raised whether such innovations edge into performance enhancement, the shoes comply with World Athletics’ “advanced footwear” regulations introduced after 2019. These rules cap sole thickness, restrict the use of multiple plates and require that the shoes be commercially available to ensure that innovation does not outpace accessibility.

“The shoes have grabbed all of our attention, now every long-distance runner wants them,” says India’s marathon record holder Sawan Barwal. “I’m excited to try them myself in my next race and see how much I can improve, especially with the Asian Games in mind.”

Former India player turned Kannada TV pundit Vijay Bharadwaj dwells into R&D that's taking place in improving cricket equipment, including shoes.

"We (Sporting Minds) were among the first to introduce advanced cricket shoes from Japan into India," Bharadwaj points out. "The R&D teams studied Indian playing conditions in detail -- they analysed grass types and soil formation to develop suitable grip, spike configurations, materials and sole design. They tested prototypes at Chinnaswamy Stadium and with real players before finalising the product." 

Result: Players can accelerate and change direction much faster not just while running between the wickets but while fielding as well. 

Staying with cricket, how can we not discuss the evolution of the once humble willow?

"The bat contributes to 50% of your runs," notes Bharadwaj. "Skill matters, but the bat plays an equally crucial role. You simply cannot score heavily with a poor-quality or unsuitable bat. The weight and how you feel holding a bat in your hand is crucial. 

"Earlier, bats required to be seasoned before you could use them in a match. You had to play with them for months before they were ready. Now, technology has advanced so much that you can pick up a bat straight from the store and use it in a match immediately. That’s the level of refinement today and the moment you hold it. With such bats, you don’t need to overexert yourself. Your technique and body shape remain intact."

Yet, to reduce this technological wave to footwear or bat alone would be simplistic as equipment science has profoundly reshaped performance ceilings across disciplines. Few sports illustrate this better than compound archery.

Once reliant on relatively basic gear, the sport has undergone a transformation driven by material science and precision engineering. Arrows, which were once simple full-carbon shafts, now feature aluminium cores wrapped in varied thickness of carbon layers and has helped improving factors like consistency and flight stability. Even arrow points have evolved from fixed steel tips to tungsten variants and in multiple weights, which has allowed archers to fine-tune balance and subsequently achieve precision.

“Sights have seen the biggest practical improvement,” explains decorated compound archer Rajat Chauhan, who has over two decades of experience. “Earlier, it was very difficult to micro-tune them. Now you can adjust directly on the sight -- if your arrow is hitting slightly high, you can bring it back to centre with small changes. There are so many possibilities now because of the equipment.”

The overall impact of these advancements is visible in the narrowing margins at the elite level. Till the mid 2015, the highest scores used to be around 714 or 715 out of 720 points available but now the world record is 719. This means, out of 72 arrows, only one arrow fell outside the two inner circles.

"The archers are the same, the mindset is the same, but the latest equipment is giving great support. Technique and focus have always been there, but now the margin of accuracy has become extremely small. Science is supporting us in closing that gap,” said Chauhan.

Chauhan’s point goes beyond better equipment as it speaks to a sport where uncertainty is being engineered out. And that’s not unique to archery as in another precision sport like shooting, the shift has taken a slightly different route. Here, technology is not just about pushing the outer limits of performance but about making performance more repeatable under pressure. This evolution is best understood through how equipment has reduced physical and mechanical interruptions in the sport.

“There has been a sea change in shooting equipment, it's like how a new iPhone comes out every year and the new one is better than previous one,” says former India rifle chief coach Suma Shirur. “We started with rifles where you had to manually pump air for every shot-like pumping a cycle tyre. Every shot was an effort: pump, pick up the rifle, shoot, and repeat. Now with compressed air cylinders, that entire process is gone.”

If endurance and precision sports show how technology can refine performance, racket sports like table tennis reveal something more layered. Here, innovation is less about pushing physical limits and more about creating tactical asymmetry with its bats. The choice of rubber, blade composition and surface texture can alter spin, speed and trajectory to such an extent that two players are effectively playing different versions of the same game.

In this file photo Rahul Dravid checks Virat Kohli

This makes equipment not just an aid, but an extension of playing style. A defensive player can slow the game down with disruptive surfaces, while an aggressive one can amplify pace and spin to overwhelm opponents.

“Equipment plays a major role in table tennis, maybe 20 to 30 per cent of overall performance,” says Bengaluru-based coach Anshuman Roy. “It’s a sport built on speed, and there are hundreds of types of rubbers-short pimples, long pimples, sticky, soft, hard. Every player needs something different.”

It's clear as daylight that technology is no longer just a support system but an active agent in redefining sporting excellence across almost all disciplines. There's no running away from tech invasion, but the challenge will be to ensure fair competition in a relentless pursuit to push human limits.